Community Foundation of Middlesex County Awards Grant Funding to Essex Winter Series

From l to r: Flutist Sophia Jean, Harpist Subin Lee, and Violist Julian Seney of Trio Animoso

ESSEX, CT (July 2024) – Essex Winter Series is grateful to once again be one of many recipients of funding from the Community Foundation of Middlesex County (CFMC). Through this grant, the EWS Spring Outreach Program is funded in part by the CFMC and made possible by the generosity of the GSB Grant Making Fund, River View Cemetery Fund, and Ivoryton Congregational Church Community Enrichment Fund. The amount of $3,695 awarded provides for educational outreach in Middlesex County, which each year touches the lives of more than 2,000 individuals.

As part of its outreach programming, Essex Winter Series’ artistic director Tara Helen O'Connor is collaborating with schools and community organizations to schedule master classes, workshops and mini-concerts. On the weekdays leading up to the March 22, 2026, Fenton Brown Emerging Artists Concert, the members of Trio Animoso – flutist Sophia Jean, violist Julian Seney, and harpist Subin Lee – expect to visit nearly a dozen sites throughout Middlesex County. These include elementary, middle and high schools as well as senior communities and libraries.

This funding is a boon for Essex Winter Series and other nonprofits. “Our goal for 49 years has been to bring the finest music to our community … not just a small sector, but the greater community,” said the Board of Trustees president Susan Guernsey. “Essex Winter Series has a proud history of presenting world-class artists in the Valley Shore area, but this grant is invaluable to our commitment to bring quality and enriching arts programming to a greater audience, beyond the annual four-concert series.”